One of the strangest things in our
marriage occurred today. No, not what you think. My Favorite Panamanian has
been after me for years to repaint the heating elements in two of our bathrooms.
They’re showing some rust on top and have been so since we bought the house, so
I’m on a nine-year delay in getting it done. I still don’t know how that
happened, as she is usually much better at spousal supervision than this indicates.
The elements are right next to the toilet and I think the prior owner had a
young male child whose aim wasn’t as good as it needed to be; but enough of
that theory, they need to get painted.
 |
| Beautiful Day Today, Front of the house |
Now, as to today’s weirdness, I informed
my Favorite Panamanian that I was going to get it done today, having bought the
needed paint yesterday. I couldn’t brag about my initiative, because, well, the
whole nine year wait. I was going to sand down the affected areas and then spray-paint
the elements. As anyone who has been through New England weather for the past
few weeks can attest, today is one of the first days that truly feels
summerlike, while those past few weeks have been either cold, wet, or oppressive.
My wife came in from a Deckzilla sojourn and informed me that it was too nice a
day for me to be working on this project inside. I was stunned.
 |
| The Delayed Project |
I probably should have pointed out that
there was nothing that needed to be done outside and I would probably spend most
of the freed-up time in the Man Cave (where I am now), but who am I to question
her logic (43 years of marriage and counting). It brings to mind the whole concept
of a gift horse. Anyways, it is a beautiful day outside (I just checked). We’re
hoping the weather is headed towards a true New England summer. Considering
that, I’m conspiring with Great Aunt, my wife, Keene Friend and the
Cantankerous One to see a WooSox game next week, my first of the year (the
weather has been that bad). I’m not buying the tickets until the long-range forecast
comes in to confirm. Yes, hedging my bets.
I know the next couple lines I write are
going to generate some emotion but it’s my opinion, so there. I’m glad overwhelming
force has been sent in to quell the LA riots. It would be hypocritical of me to
say it was overreach when I roundly criticized our idiot-in-chief for failing
to do that on January 6
th, a few years ago. I won’t get into the
whole escalation argument because we had, for well-known reasons, a violent mob
occupying one of our major city’s streets waving a foreign flag, looting and
burning. Symbols are important, especially given our 24-hour news exposure. Can
you imagine a mob in another country waving the US flag and how well that would
be received. I find that as reprehensible as the MAGA flags waved during the storming
of the capitol. I’ve always thought blocking streets is not a legitimate protest
tactic and is an attempt to forcibly impose the blockers’ views on the rest of
us. Protest all you want, but, do it peacefully and don’t break the law (like
blocking public thoroughfares). I am fully prepared to receive the unbridled
wrath of my liberal friends now, bring it on (just don’t block my driveway).
Date night returned this week, and we
took in the latest John Wick thriller, Ballerina. I was fully prepared to
dislike this as a weak attempt to capture some Wickian magic. I was wrong.
After a slow start this movie embraces the spirit of the Wick films and delivers.
All credit deservedly goes to Ana de Armas who proves her 007 action cameo was
no fluke, she is uniformly awesome as the main character/body-count-generator. She
plays a student of that weird Belorussian dance studio that J.W. passed
through. She’s on a revenge mission against a European cult that knocked off her
parents. She kills her way to their home base and just when it looked like it couldn’t
get any better, John Wick himself shows up, as this is set between earlier pictures,
before his “demise”. I thought the dueling flamethrowers were especially poignant.
This was a truly great movie, completely up to the high standards of the
previous films. Thank you, Ms. Armas.
Eight movies fell in the A-Z watch (Wow!),
four keepers and four ejections(again, Wow!): Planet of the Apes (2001) – Wahlberg
is no Heston but Bonham-Carter was strangely attractive as an ape, go figure; Planet
of the Apes (1968) – a classic and the original, one of greatest endings in
cinema history; Beneath Planet of the Apes – plays like a bad 70s TV show,
terrible follow up, eject; Escape from the Planet of the Apes – another terrible
movie with shoddy production values, eject; Conquest of the Planet of the Apes –
continued mediocrity, the apes replaced cats and dogs!, eject; Battle for the
Planet of the Apes – at least these awful movies kept Roddy McDowell employed,
they didn’t even try to disguise the plastic ape masks, eject; Play Misty for
Me – Eastwood’s initial directorial effort is amazing, stands up well, figures Lucille
Bluth started out as a homicidal maniac, she is so scary in this, I remember when I thought Eastwood's character was the coolest guy in the world, forgive me, it was the 70s; Pleasantville
– just flat love this movie and innovative (at the time) switch between color
and B&W, one of my favorite scenes of all time when the colored art work is
revealed to a soaring movie score.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
RECURRING CHARACTERS:
ABFA – Amazing Best Family
Athlete – my daughter
in law; BR3 – Blog Reader #3 – granddaughter
#3; BRS - Blog Reader the Sequel -
second granddaughter; Cantankerous
Friend – friend since grade school who likes to argue about everything,
poses as radical leftist to attract women; CRC - Connecticut Riverboat Captain – another close friend from high
school, renowned sailor of the big river; Curbside
Girls – close friends of my daughter acquired during her single days in
Brooklyn; Czech Connection – Czech couple who’ve become good friends
along with their daughter (the Czech Shadow); Deckzilla – our backyard deck which grew to monstrous dimensions
once my wife got involved in planning; Favorite
Panamanian - the wife (of course); FBR
- First Blog Reader - first granddaughter; First Friday – celebrations to mark the First Friday of the Week; Great Aunt - my elder sister; Keene Friends 1 & 2 – friends since
high school from my home town of Keene, NH; Kindergarten Friend – friend since kindergarten whom I reunited
with after many years; Maine and
Virginia Musqueteras – two close friends of my wife – her US sisters, my
wife is the 3rd Musquetera (musketeer); Namesake Nephew – son of Great Aunt and Soxfather named after me; Neighborhood Mafioso - wife's close
friend and Panamanian mafia member; PanaGals
– female relatives /friends of my wife from Panama; Panamanian/Latin Mafia – inevitable group of Latino friends my wife
accumulates wherever we have lived & their spouses; PCR - Pittsburgh College Roommate – high
school friend, also a “Minor Celebrity” in Pittsburgh; PCR+1 - Pittsburgh College Roommate’s wife; Riggins - also known as the
Grandpuppy, son's dog; Seis Amigos - two couples from our condo complex
and my wife and I; Soxfather – my
brother-in-law (whom I miss more than I can ever explain); Tia Loca –
wife’s younger sister; Wingman – my
son in law; Wingmom – Wingman’s mom,
of course
No comments:
Post a Comment